


you're everything i love (about the things i hate in me)

by punkfistfights



Series: favorite place [1]
Category: The Magicians (TV), The Magicians - Lev Grossman
Genre: Alternate Universe - No Beast (The Magicians), Alternate Universe - No Fillory (The Magicians), Arielle has ADHD, Attention Deficit Hyperactive Disorder, Autism Spectrum, Autistic Alice Quinn, Autistic Fen, Autistic Quentin Coldwater, Chronic Illness, Developing Friendships, Eliot Waugh has ADHD, Families of Choice, M/M, Margo Hanson has ADHD, Mental Health Issues, Multi, Penny Adiyodi has ADHD, Polyamory, Rating May Change, Season/Series 01, Slow Burn, Tags May Change, Trans Characters, Trauma, Triad - Freeform, but it’s mostly just a dramedy, it’s a lot lighter than the show, no betas we die like men, nonbinary characters - Freeform, the tags make this story look really serious and dark, this has kind of become a mix of show n book canon oops, what i just think goth!julia and punk!penny are where it’s at
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-10-28
Updated: 2020-11-10
Packaged: 2021-03-08 19:08:51
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 5,657
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27251719
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/punkfistfights/pseuds/punkfistfights
Summary: Quentin Coldwater starts his first year at Brakebills University for Magical Pedagogy with his two best friends, Julia Wicker and Arielle Prunum. While he’s thrilled to learn magic is real, he expects his social life to be basically the same—spending all his time with Arielle and Julia and watching as they make friends that he just can’t seem to click with. Eliot Waugh and Margo Hanson make sure that doesn’t happen.Alice Quinn has had a love-hate relationship with magic ever since her brother died. The only reason she decides to go to Brakebills, is so she can learn more about what happened to her brother. Quentin Coldwater and Arielle Prunum burst their way into her life, changing everything.Kady Orloff-Diaz sees Brakebills as an escape as much as it is a way for Marina Andrieski to exert even more control over her. Her plan is to steal stuff until she gets caught and then to run as fast as she possibly can. Penny Adiyodi, Julia Wicker, and Fen Culter make this plan a little more difficult than she would have preferred.In which Fillory doesn’t exist, and that solves as many problems as it causes.
Relationships: Arielle & Quentin Coldwater & Julia Wicker, Arielle/Alice Quinn/Margo Hanson, Everybody & Everybody, Fen & Margo Hanson & Eliot Waugh, Minor or Background Relationship(s), Quentin Coldwater & Alice Quinn & Julia Wicker, Quentin Coldwater/Eliot Waugh, William “Penny” Adiyodi/Fen/Kady Orloff-Diaz/Julia Wicker
Series: favorite place [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1989793
Comments: 8
Kudos: 10





	1. Quentin I

**Author's Note:**

> ok so finally finished the fourth season before i published this fic. this show infuriates me but alas i’m obsessed with characters so here i am!  
> now, i’m not gonna give a lot of explanation for plot changes in the notes but i want anyone who reads this to know that while some backstories are gonna change in result of fillory not existing and fillorians being magicians—quentin, eliot, and penny’s especially—any backstory that isn’t directly affected by that will be the same. i promise any questions you have WILL probably be answered but it’ll happen naturally. i do my best to avoid infodumping in fic.  
> this first chapter is largely a rewrite of the first episode. some of the dialogue will come straight from the show, though i plan to change things slightly here and there. i promise the entire fic isn’t like this, it was just the easiest way to go about this chapter and the next.

_So can we close the space between us now?_

_It's the distance we don't need (Hey)_

_Yeah,_ **_you're everything I love about_ **

**_The things I hate in me_ ** _(Hey)_

_So come on, come on, come over now and_

_Fix me with your grace_

_'Cause I'm not too far and you're my favorite place_

**- Favorite Place All Time Low (feat The Band CAMINO) **

Quentin Makepeace Coldwater (yeah, thanks for that mouthful of a name, mom and dad) had always believed in magic. Even as he tried to bury that part of him as deeply in his subconscious as possible, it never fully went away. 

He and Arielle had been walking down the street after discovering his Yale alumni interviewer dead, having separated from Julia so she could make her way to her own campus, when a piece of paper had suddenly appeared in Arielle’s hand, bearing their names and welcoming them to some place called Brakebills before escaping her grip and flying down the street. They chased after it, because of course they did; they were millennials who had been raised on fantasy stories and this very much seemed like the beginning of one. 

Arielle had a tight grip on Quentin’s arm as they stumbled through a bush and entered what seemed to be a new world. He found himself in awe but felt no surprise as he looked around the gorgeous, sunny campus, for he had _always_ believed in magic. 

When they walked towards what appeared to be a college building, they saw a marble platform that proudly displayed the name Brakebills University; on top of it lounged a devastatingly handsome dark-haired man, smoking a cigarette. When he noticed them approaching, he swung himself up so he was sitting instead, facing them with his legs spread. He looked down at the card he had been holding. “Quentin Coldwater and Arielle Prunum?” he asked, sounding vaguely incredulous. 

Quentin nodded, his eyes wide, and said, “Uh-huh.” 

“That would be us,” Arielle said, digging her blunt nails into the fabric of Quentin’s jacket. 

The man jumped down and walked up to them, revealing exactly how much he towered over them both. “I’m Eliot.” His eyes flicked over Quentin, blatantly checking him out. He didn’t do the same to Arielle. “You two are late.” 

He stepped back and started walking away, bringing his cigarette back up to his mouth. “Follow me.” 

Quentin was frozen in place for a minute but Arielle wasn’t having it as she all but dragged him to catch up with Eliot. “Where are we?” she demanded. 

“Upstate New York,” answered Eliot. 

“Upstate—” Quentin spluttered. “But we were just—okay, what is going on?” 

“You’re at Brakebills University, the two of you have been offered a preliminary exam for entry into the graduate program,” Eliot said, sounding bored as he brought his cigarette back up to his lips. He hadn’t looked back and he was walking fast enough that Quentin and Arielle had to do a half-jog to keep up. 

“What the—are we fucking hallucinating?” Arielle demanded as Quentin stopped chasing after Eliot, pulling the two of them to a standstill. 

Eliot turned to face them and offered raised eyebrows and a dismissive expression. “If you were, how exactly would asking me help?” he asked. 

Quentin half-nodded; that was a fair point. 

“Come on,” Eliot added. “You’ll miss it.” He turned and started walking again. Quentin and Arielle chased after him. 

When they entered the examination room, there were several seats left, though none next to each other. One was in the back, next to a punk with a mohawk and very nice bare biceps, while the other was a few rows up, next to an intimidating person with a long curly sidecut, sitting in their chair with one foot up on the seat with them. 

Eliot touched Quentin’s shoulder to point out the spots just as the older black man at the front of the room called out, “Late!” Quentin felt himself blush at the recrimination. “Be seated.” 

Everyone who was standing made their way to a seat. 

“Welcome,” the man standing on the stage at the front of the room said. “You may address me as Dean. I know you have questions. They will be answered in time.” 

Quentin started feeling overly warm and somewhat itchy, the way he often did when he was overstimulated, so he pulled his sweater over his head, just to get caught in it. The Dean continued as he was struggling to get it off. “Now your only job is to pass the examination before you.” Quentin managed to yank his sweater off and stash it in his bag just as the Dean flipped the hourglass on his table and said, “Begin.” 

The exam was ridiculous. The question on the first page of the booklet changed twice before Quentin saw a question he knew the answer to and as the exam went on, that happened several times. Quentin was stressed but below that stress was a bubble of pure hope resting in his chest. He wasn’t hallucinating and he hadn’t been the idiot he had thought he was his whole life: magic was definitely real. 

The exam seemed to drag on even as the next hour was the quickest of his life. When it was finished, Quentin jumped up and caught up with Arielle, who was making her way to the front of the room. He slung an arm around her shoulders and she immediately relaxed into his side. “Ari—” he began only to be interrupted. 

“This is the coolest thing that has ever happened to us, Q,” Arielle said, a huge smile spreading across her pretty face. Quentin felt an ancient fondness for her rise in him. “I’m losing my fucking mind.” 

“Me too,” he said. “This is wild. I thought for a second it was my new meds.” 

“No, Q, this is real,” Arielle said with a brighter expression than he had seen from her in years. He couldn’t help but grin back. 

They got into line, Arielle in front of him. When Quentin reached the Dean, he handed him a card and said, “Please report to this next room for your final examination. Thank you.” 

Quentin looked down at the card and noted where it directed him to go as he walked away. Arielle looped their arms together, he looked up just to see Julia in another line. He and Arielle rushed towards her. “Jules!” he cried out. 

Julia’s eyes widened. “Oh, my god, Q? Ari?” 

The three of them collided into a group hug. “How did you two get here?” Julia asked as she pulled away. 

“We walked through a bush chasing after a piece of paper with our names on it,” Arielle said. “You?” 

“It was so weird!” Julia said. “I was on an elevator and when I left the elevator, I was in this building. This is nuts!” 

“Stop talking please! Stay focused,” the Dean snapped. 

The three of them made faces at each other before following his directions. 

. 

Quentin’s day just got weirder. The Dean had informed that he didn’t actually have depression and that the malaise he had been dealing with for the past six years—longer if he was being honest with himself—wasn’t because he was mentally ill, but because he hadn’t had magic in his life and had proceeded to ask for his meds. Quentin had immediately surrendered them, of course. If Dean Fogg was correct, this was some of the best news of his life. 

Currently, he was walking down the hallways for the dorms, slightly behind Julia and Arielle, so they weren’t taking up the whole corridor. They both kept glancing behind them and sending him excited looks. He couldn’t help but grin back. 

They arrived at his assigned room first. When they entered, the punk Quentin had been sitting next to earlier was chilling on one of the beds. “Oh! You must be Q’s roommate!” Arielle said with a half-smile. 

The man stood up and strolled forward. Quentin glanced at the tattoo on his bicep, which had been hidden from his view earlier. It was of a snake and it added to the man’s kind of dangerous, sexy appearance. Not for the first time, Quentin considered what it’d be like to have a tattoo. He just hadn’t had the balls to get one yet. “Looks like it. What up, roomie,” the man said. It wasn’t a question. 

Quentin glanced away from him, making his way to his bed. “Uh, hi,” he said, anxiety clawing its way into him for the first time since he’d been accepted into the school. 

“So, what’s up with all the nerd-boy dragon porn shit—are you twelve?” the man asked as he glanced at the books already covering the room. 

Arielle’s nostrils flared. “The fuck did you just say?” she demanded. 

Julia was similarly incensed as she strode forward and jabbed a finger into the man’s chest. “Look, asshole, I don’t know who you think you are but don’t talk to Q like that—” 

Eliot chose that moment to appear, accompanied by a gorgeous dark-haired woman. “Quentin! This is the interruption you've been waiting for.” 

The woman, who was petite but wearing heels that made it so she easily matched Arielle in height, entered the room behind him. She walked straight to Quentin and ran her gaze over him as she reached forward and grabbed his tie. “Hi. I'm Margo.” She looked at Quentin for a moment and hummed before adding, “So, this is him. He's not that cute.” She sent him a coy smile before turning her attention to Julia and Arielle. “You two on the other hand are absolutely delicious.” 

Arielle’s pale cheeks flushed a light pink as her eyebrows rose and she bit at her lower lip. Julia smirked and elbowed Arielle in the side, causing Quentin to roll his eyes and grin at them both. Julia beamed at Margo. “Hey, I’m Julia. This other lovely lady,” Arielle interrupted her with a light push and a firm shut up, making Julia and Quentin snicker, “is Arielle. We’re Q’s most important people.” 

“And on that note, I’m fucking leaving,” Quentin’s roommate said, rolling his eyes before grabbing his bag and making his way out of the room, pushing past Eliot in the process. 

“Good riddance, jackass,” Julia snapped, rolling her eyes with a light sneer. Arielle and Quentin elbowed her in unison, which she responded to with a shrug. 

“Okay, you guys are adorable,” Eliot said with a smirk. “ _Anyways_ , Bambi and I came to collect Quentin to give him a tour around the campus and his gorgeous friends are _of course_ welcome to join.” 

Arielle shot Quentin a look, wiggling her eyebrows, Quentin made a face at her, and Julia giggled. “We’d love to join you,” Julia said. 

“Sure would,” Arielle added with a bright smile. 

Quentin ducked his head and tucked a lock of hair behind his ear as he sent Eliot an anxious thumbs up. Fuck, he was such a dork. 

They followed after Eliot and Margo, Quentin closing the door behind him. 

“So, Eliot definitely wants to fuck you,” Arielle breathed into his ear as she links their arms together. 

Quentin immediately turned bright red. “He does not!” he hissed back. 

Arielle snickered and bumped their hips together. “I know the look of when someone falls into your pretty eyes, Q. Plus, Margo said he called you cute.” 

“She didn’t actually say that, she said that I’m _not_ cute,” Quentin insisted in return. 

“What are you two whispering about instead of paying attention to your gorgeous tour guides—which no other first year gets?” Margo asked suddenly. 

Arielle smiled beatifically. “Nothing important,” she said, her eyes glittering with suppressed humor. 

Margo rolled her eyes in return, though a small smirk made its way onto her lips. “How long have the two of you been together?” she asked. 

“Hm?” Quentin intoned before realizing what Margo was asking. “Oh! We’re not dating, Ari and I broke up like two years ago. She’s just my—” 

“Most important person, a title shared with Julia,” Arielle interjected, cutting him off. 

Julia sent them a knowing look. “A title proudly bestowed upon us when we were sixteen,” she said. 

“Damn, you guys have all known each other forever, huh?” Margo asked. “Why am I constantly surrounded by fuckers who’ve known each other since diapers?” 

“Oh, don’t be jealous, Bambi,” Eliot said. “I may have known Fen longer, but you know you’re my other half.” 

“Oh, baby, I know,” Margo purred. “I just have no interest in dealing with even more inside jokes.” 

“Sorry,” Arielle said, not sounding apologetic in the slightest. “We have a million and one inside jokes. Q and Jules have known each other since they were, like, eight and I joined the friendship when we were fourteen. Lots of little jokes tend to build after that much time together.” 

“Lame but vaguely cute,” Margo said, pursing her lips. 

“Let’s get this tour started, shall we?” Eliot began. “First years live in the dorms. You’ll be eventually sent to the house with your emphasis, once the teachers figure out your discipline.” 

“Or you’ll flunk out and get your memories taken away—not that you’ll care,” Margo interjected as she made her way past them. 

Quentin shared a panicked look with Arielle and Julia who appeared just as horrified by the idea. They hurried after Eliot and Margo to get outside. Once out there Eliot greeted some professors before returning to the explanation. “There are six categories of magic: Physical, Psychic, Illusion, Healing, Knowledge, and Natural. Physical Kids do telekinesis. Move shit, lift shit—most can fly.” Eliot jogged over to some students levitating fruit and stole an apple before shooting a smile and a wink at Quentin. “We’re also magnificent partiers, don’t come by our house if you have something important to do the next morning.” 

Eliot went on to say, “Psychics are losers but one of my best friends was nearly one so I guess I should cut them some slack. Illusionists are okay and fun to party with but they’re all flash and no substance. Healers are super uptight but are always a good time at a party. Knowledge kids are the biggest nerds you’ll ever meet and somehow even more uptight than Healers. Naturalists are where the fun’s at though, they have the best drugs. I’ll introduce you all to Josh Hoberman some time, he’s my hookup and his shit is legitimately magical.” Throughout Eliot’s lecture, he gestured at different groups of students as he made his points. 

“Actually,” Margo corrected as she twined herself around Eliot, “Josh is _my_ hookup. You just get the benefits.” 

“Yes, yes, Bambi. You and Josh fuck, everyone knows,” Eliot said as he pressed a kiss to her forehead. 

Margo shrugged with a light giggle. “What can I say, his dick game is pretty good,” she said. 

“So, when do we learn what our disciplines actually are?” Julia asked with wide eyes. 

Margo shrugged. “Usually about a month or so in, they just need to stimulate your magic a bit first. Aim to be Physical Kids, we’re the most fun.” 

Arielle chewed on her lower lip. “What exactly are disciplines?” she asked. 

It was Margo’s turn to lecture. “All Magicians have different kinds of magic that just click with them. Spells they can do without specific tuts—I’ll explain that to you later—or incantations. It’s all based on the Circumstances of your birth. What time you were born, where the moon and the sun were in the sky, the weather, the coordinates, so on and so forth. Your discipline could technically be figured out by studying that shit, but no one has the fucking time. Instead they test for it.” Margo brushed some hair out of her face and rolled her eyes. “Honestly, nobody really gives a fuck about your disciple, most Magicians tend to ignore it, seeing it as divisive or some shit. They really only bother to test for it here because it shows what specialized classes you should take and where they’re stashing you away. I’ve got cryomancy, ice is my bitch.” 

“And I’m a telekinetic,” Eliot added with another wink and a blown kiss. Both were sent in Quentin’s general direction. Quentin did his best to stifle a nervous smile; he’d interacted with people who were just generally flirty before and it had rarely gone well for him. Typically, they weren’t interested in him, they just enjoyed riling him up. 

“Honestly,” Margo added, “you’ll probably have a good guess on your kind of magic even before you get tested. The only person who wasn’t sure last year was our girl Fen and that’s just because she had more than one category that she slotted into.” 

“And Fen’s unique,” Eliot said with a small smile. “You probably won’t be like her.” 

“Nobody’s quite like Fen,” Margo finished. The two of them giggled. 

“Is that a good thing or a bad thing?” Quentin asked. Arielle snickered as she leaned into his side. 

Eliot laughed again. “It’s definitely a good thing. In this house, we love Fen.” 

“Anyways, I’m bored,” Margo said, cocking her hip. “Giving you guys this tour was fun and all but I think you’re good, as long as you use your campus map—and maybe some scrying magic. Let’s go find something magic to smoke.” 

“Daddy likes that idea, Bambi,” Eliot purred. Quentin’s eyes widened at that and his cheeks darkened as he ducked his head. No way was this guy real, Quentin had never met anyone quite so...out there before. Not that being out there was a bad thing. It was just a lot to deal with. 

“That sounds like fun!” Arielle said. 

Julia hummed. “As long as none of it counteracts any meds,” she added, sending Quentin a concerned glance. Great. Now Quentin wanted to melt into the sidewalk. 

Margo waved a hand dismissively. “Nah, all of Josh’s shit plays friendly. Follow me.” 

Quentin really had no choice but to do as she said. 


	2. Alice I

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> this chapter actually is beta-read actually, my amazing friend bea read through it and suggested some additions as well as changing some wordings, i love her <3 
> 
> a lot of this chapter is still very much taken from the show, something that will definitely change in the next chapter, for kady’s turn! 
> 
> this chapter is a lot more disjointed than the last one was, fair warning. alice is dealing with a lot of stuff that quentin doesn’t have to worry about so lmao. 
> 
> finally, i’ve tentatively decided this story will be about twenty-five chapters. that’s eight chapters apiece for quentin, alice, and kady, plus an epilogue. i also have vague plans to have scene rewrites from alternate perspectives.
> 
> edit: oops lmao i just remembered that i wanted to mention something. so, in alice’s first scene in the show, they never tell us what the class is or who the teacher is. i decided to make it practical applications, the only named class in the book. i also changed the nameless teacher into van der weghe, a canonical character in the books. i have no reason for this, other than i wanted to lmao.

Alice Charlotte Quinn fucking hated magic. 

That wasn’t quite true. Alice had a very complex relationship with magic that was primarily antagonistic. 

She loved magic. She loved learning new things and what she could do with them. She hated what magic had taken from her. She hated what magic had made of her parents. 

Based on her Circumstances, Alice should have been a first semester student at Brakebills. When the exam day came, Alice hadn’t been chosen to take it. She had magic—she had  _ powerful _ magic  _ and _ an understanding of the theory behind it all—and they hadn’t wanted her to come. Alice couldn’t know exactly why they hadn’t chosen her to take the exam, but she would bet that it had to do with Charlie and why he had never come home. 

Honestly, fuck what Brakebills wanted. She needed to be there to figure out what had happened to him. She deserved to be at that school not just for the pain it had caused her, but because she was damn good at magic. If there was one undeniable fact about her, it was that she was good at magic. They had no right to deny her a place there when she would easily be one of their best students. 

When she walked through the door of the main building, they didn’t know what to do. She had broken the warding on an Alumni key, which should have been impossible, and had gotten on campus. With that level of demonstrated skill they, at the very least, had to let her take the exam. She aced it—of course she did—and they had no acceptable reason to turn her away. So she became, begrudgingly on their end, a Brakebills First Year. 

All of this combined was why she was in no way shocked when in her first class, Practical Applications, Professor Van der Weghe—a dark-skinned woman even tinier than Alice, yet who managed to tower over her due to a pair of impressive heels—called her up for a demonstration. Alice couldn’t tell if the emotion glittering in Van der Weghe’s dark eyes was interest or malice, but either way Alice was exhausted. Being the object of the faculty's focus would do her no good.

She let out a light sigh before standing up and, shoulders hunched up to her ears, making her way to the front desk. There was nothing Alice hated more than being the center of attention. 

She held her hands over the marble and took a deep breath through her nose. Before she could start the spell, she heard someone mockingly say, “Ooh, looks serious.” Alice’s head turned and her eyes darted to the person who had spoken, a badass with an explosion of curly hair. 

“Please,” interrupted a brown skinned man decked out in punk regalia from behind her, “an artist is at work.” 

Alice stared at them for a split second longer, mortified and trying to smother her rage, before returning her attention to the marble before her. She took a breath and casted the spell she knew best, the one Charlie had taught her when she was seventeen during a visit home that she couldn’t have known would be his last. 

She had been in a weird place, utterly friendless and more mopey about it than normal. Everything and everyone said this was supposed to be the best time of your life but she was miserable. He’d been trying his best to make her feel better. Charlie had taken a bead from a broken bracelet that he’d found on her desk and he’d turned into the tiniest horse she had ever seen. She’d been delighted—horses were her absolute favorite thing in the world—and she’d demanded he teach her the spell. He’d shown her the tuts and walked through the words with her, gently correcting her mispronunciations of the Greek, and she’d managed it on her first real try. 

It was easier than ever to melt the glass marble in front of her and reform it into a semi-sentient horse. She allowed it to clumsily trot forward on the desk for a split second before brushing it into her hand and rushing back to her seat. The room broke into applause.

She ducked her head and refused to make eye contact with anyone. 

“Hey,” said a warm voice from behind her. 

Alice gritted her teeth before turning to the girl who she was pretty sure had spoken to her. She was pale and freckled, with a sweet round face framed by waves of light red hair; her full pink lips were curved into the beginnings of a smile. Alice glanced into her dark blue eyes for a moment before quickly averting her eyes, feeling overwhelmed. “What?” she said, doing her best not to snap and failing miserably. 

The girl chuckled. “It’s shit that you got called up in front of the entire class, but that was the coolest thing I’ve ever seen.” 

Alice could feel herself blush. “You must not have seen much spellcasting then,” she muttered.

The girl shrugged, seemingly not put off by Alice's cold demeanor. “Maybe not, but I’m still impressed. Anyways, I’m Arielle.” 

“Okay, nice to meet you, I suppose,” Alice said sharply before pretending to return her attention back to Professor Van der Weghe, who had begun her lecture. 

Alice knew she was being rude, but she  _ wasn’t _ here to make friends. She especially wasn’t here to make friends with distractingly pretty redheads. 

. 

Alice had spent her first night in her dorm room surrounded by books she should be reading. 

She had a single, due to the fact that the school hadn't planned on her being here. Despite her anger at them trying to deny her admittance, she was thankful to have the dorm to herself. She’d never shared a room before and she had no desire for that to change now; she liked having her own space. 

Alice cast a quick spell she’d seen her dad perform drunk countless times. He’d never realized she was teaching herself it as she watched him. It was a simple Viking spell that made it so she—and everyone in the same room as her—heard a song of her choice. Bopping her head lightly to the rhythm she quickly picked up all of the books that littered her bed and stacked them on the desk on the other side of the room before returning to her bed and collapsing on top of the blanket. 

Tomorrow, she would return to her research on communicating with Charlie. For tonight, she would allow herself to celebrate the fact that she had done it, she had gotten into Brakebills, and that she could succeed in any goal she set her mind to. With the impossible already achieved, the world unfurled into endless possibility in front of her eyes.

Her eyelids fluttered open and she allowed herself an unrestrained smile at nothing in particular. 

.

Making her way through the campus, Alice aggressively ignored everyone around her. She bee-lined toward a bench and sat down, just starting to look through her bag when she was interrupted by a saccharine sweet voice calling out to her. “Hey Alice, come join us!” 

Alice turned her head to see the girl from PA, Arielle, sitting with a group of students. She was leaning against a long-haired brunette man who was sitting cross-legged and staring at her, while a very pretty goth woman sat on his other side. Behind them stood a tall man, leaning against the wall of what Alice assumed to be some sort of modern art piece and smoking a cigarette. 

Across from them lounged a truly gorgeous woman with a sly smile, artfully reclined like she  _ was _ a modern art piece; she was who had called Alice’s name. “Make some friends. Take a load off,” she added, the tone of her voice obviously well practiced. Her smirk along with the glint in her eye made Alice’s heart drop. Of course she was getting mocked, even here. She let out a deep breath and turned away as she stood up and walked swiftly away. 

Less than a minute later, just when Alice thought she might be safe, she heard a voice. Arielle had caught up to her, calling out to her, “Hey, Alice, wait up!” 

“Leave me  _ alone _ ,” Alice snapped quietly, purposefully not slowing her pace. 

“Not doing that,” Arielle volleyed back. “Look, I’m sorry for Margo. She’s a bitch but I’m pretty sure her heart’s in the right place.” 

Alice rolled her eyes with a small huff. “I’m used to being made fun of,” she said. “I’m used to popular kids making me think they’re my friends when it’s all just some kind of stupid practical joke. I’m not going to deal with that here.” 

“And that’s completely fair!” Arielle said, half-jogging to keep up with Alice even though her legs were definitely longer. “But that’s not what Margo was doing. And even if it was, I wouldn’t play along with it. Neither would Q or Jules.” 

“I don’t know who either of those people are,” Alice retorted. 

Arielle waved a hand dismissively. “They’re my best friends, but that doesn’t matter right now. What does matter is that we’re  _ not _ actually awful fucking people and we  _ would _ like to be your friends.” 

For a moment, Alice felt a terrible longing rise in her. She’d been alone her entire life, with only Charlie and magic to keep her company, and she’d kind of lost both in one fell swoop five years ago. Oh, she still had magic but the simple joy of it was gone with her brother. She desperately wanted friends who she could joke around with and lean on in dark times, the way she’d seen in movies and shows and read in books, but the thing was...that wasn’t why she was at Brakebills. 

“Thanks but I’m not interested,” she lied, breaking off from Arielle and walking even faster to outrun her desire to stay.

. 

In addition to the ten books she was allowed to check out from the Brakebills library Alice had several that she had smuggled from her parents' collection. Her bed was absolutely covered in books and notebooks and spare paper all overlapping, with only a small circle bare surrounding where she was perched, her feet tucked her thighs. 

Half of it was research for Charlie, the rest was the homework she had to do if she wanted to keep going here. She sighed and pushed her glasses up the bridge of her nose. She loved theory, she loved the moment when a spell clicked into place. She didn’t love being forced to divert her attention from her research on her brother. 

Alice knew the ridiculous amount of effort she put in paid off. After all, she was the best student in her semester—probably in the school—and that wasn’t just because she had talent. There were plenty of students more talented than she was. She did so well because of all that perseverance and tenacity her undergrad teachers had praised her for. No one could keep up with her.

Still, she kind of wished she wasn’t alone right now. 

.

Alice had gotten a few days to herself before she ran into Arielle again, this time in the campus cafe. She was joined by the brunette man and the goth woman that Alice had gotten a glimpse at during their last encounter. 

“Look, Gretchen is nice and all, but she thinks listening to metal music at three in the morning is acceptable and I’m going to kill her,” Arielle was saying when her group walked past Alice. She carefully dropped her eyes to her book and let a curtain of bright blonde hair fall between her and the others.

“At least you  _ like _ metal,” the man said, a hint of a whine coming into his complaint. “Penny listens to fucking dubstep.” 

“Yeah, well—oh, hi, Alice!” Arielle said. All hopes of not being noticed are shattered in a second. Alice tucks her hair behind her ear and regards the trio. They each had a to-go cup in their hands, while the table in front of Alice was covered in textbooks, with a half-empty mug sitting next to one of them. 

“What do you want?” she asked. She was purposefully taking up her entire side of the bench, meaning if they wanted to sit down they would have to squish into the other side.

This didn't seem to be a problem as the three of them folded themselves into the booth with practiced motions, Arielle in the middle.

Surprisingly it was the man who spoke first. “I, uh, just wanted to say that, um, look—honestly, it’s my, it’s my fault that Margo said what she said,” he said, speaking ridiculously fast. “They saw how jealous I was.” 

“Q,” Arielle said. “Shut up, please. It’s not your fault that Margo and Eliot think being bitchy is a personality trait.” 

“It, uh, it is?” the man—Q, Alice supposed—said. “Anyways, Margo really isn’t that mean, not deep down.” He seemed painfully earnest.

“Don’t let her hear you say that. But yeah, I already explained this to Alice, take a load off. You know I already love Margo, bitchiness and all.” 

The goth woman snorted, rolling her heavily lined eyes. “Well, if these two idiots want to keep arguing about nothing, I guess I should probably introduce us,” she said to Alice with a deep fondness evident in her raspy voice. “You already know Ari but I’m Julia and that’s Quentin. We were all friends before we got into Brakebills.” She accompanies this with a welcoming smile. It makes her eyes sparkle.

Alice was immediately able to classify the emotion burning in her stomach as bitter jealousy. Three friends getting into Brakebills together, what a fucking fairy tale this must be for them. 

“Great,” she said. “I don’t especially care about whatever it is that's going on here." Alice hesitated for a second. "Though I do want to know—what exactly were you jealous of?” The question was directed at Quentin. 

He hunched his shoulders up. “You’re—I mean, you’re the best? It’s easy for you.” 

“Oh my god, Q,” Julia whispered. Arielle rolled her eyes and elbowed him in the side. 

“No, I study,” Alice said, exasperated. 

“You study and you get it!” Quentin shot back. “I barely—I’m terrified I’m going to get kicked out. I need this place, all my friends are here. But I don’t have parents who—” 

“My parents are useless crazy people,” Alice snapped. “They didn’t teach me even a drop of magic. If you think my family was some kind of advantage for me, you’ve been misled.” 

Arielle sighed. “Wow, this wasn’t the point of us approaching you at all,” she said, sending Quentin a reproachful glare. Quentin ducked his head, chagrined. “We were actually wondering if you wanted to join our study group— _ not _ because of your family, but because we noticed everyone else was already involved in one in some way or another and, well, four is a better number than three.” 

“Actually, historically—” Quentin began only to be cut off by Arielle’s elbow in his ribs. “You should definitely, uh, join us,” he finished instead, staring at Alice through his lashes, looking like a sad puppy-dog. 

If she said yes, would they leave her alone to study? 

“If I say yes, would you leave me alone to study?” she asked. 

Arielle beamed at her. “For now!” she chirped. 

“Fine then,” Alice said before returning her attention to the textbook. 

“See you in the library tonight at eight then!” Arielle said, before they left. 

Alice let out a defeated sigh. What had she gotten herself into?

**Author's Note:**

> come yell at me about how bad the magicians is but how much you love it anyways on [my tumblr](http://punkfistfights.tumblr.com/)!


End file.
